


Victory Lap

by Vanyel



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Hades 2018, In a run where Zagreus forgot to check his DDs coming in, M/M, Still learning how to write them, aka what just happened to me, but damn if their bond in game isn't something wonderful, but vague and game-relevant, copious My Kings, death mention, thesterius
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29837952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanyel/pseuds/Vanyel
Summary: If the hellspawn thinks Theseus is insufferable before a fight, imagine what he'd think of him after a victory.
Relationships: Asterius | The Minotaur/Theseus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38





	Victory Lap

They'd won.  
That blasted Zagreus had swaggered back up in their faces, spitting some venomously witty remark that Theseus had just now forgotten, and come at them with shield bared. He seemed as fierce and dirty a fighter as ever.  
Yet the puddle of blood he'd disappeared into was slowly seeping into the ground as the roar of the crowd echoed around them.

They'd actually beaten the hellspawn. That...rarely happened of late.  
It felt almost blasphemous in his head to think - even if it had become the truth. It was not _his_ fault that the hellspawn somehow had the backing of three or four different Olympians each time he showed up on their coliseum grounds. And he wouldn't stand and fight with honor - just dart around the battlefield like some annoying gnat.  
Well, they had well and truly swatted him this time!  
Theseus raised his spear into the sky, and the crowd surged once more, exhilarated to a shade.  
"Good people of Elysium!" His voice carried with a triumph that felt like his first days in this place. "Gaze upon your champions! The hellspawn has been sent back to the depths where he belongs!"  
The noise was deafening, and yet it couldn't drown out the pounding of his heartbeat. Out of the corner of his eye, Asterius snorted, hefting his bloodied axe back onto his broad shoulders.  
"Three cheers for Theseus! Three cheers for Asterius! Three cheers for your Champions!"

The stands erupted, and Theseus yelled with them.  
"VICTORY!"

* * *

Theseus barreled into Asterius, stood just inside the door of the champion's armory, and bounced off him as if there had been no impact. "Did you SEE us out there, my friend? It has been a long time since we've had such a glorious fight, you and I!" He was beaming, smile obnoxiously white like it was polished quartz. "Did you _see_ the look on the fiend's face when you sent me flying into it?"  
Asterius snorted again, but it was light and short. A proud kind of snort. "We fought well, my king. Perhaps he will remember not to underestimate us."  
"Under- _ESTIMATE_ us? That fool'd have to be _made_ of foolishness to dare FIGHT us again, after such a thrashing!" Theseus vibrated, practically hopping up and down as he slung his shield back onto its resting place in the rack. It cracked the wood faintly with the force of it, but he seemed not to notice. He bounced on his toes, adrenaline still pumping through him. "Foul daemon has learned his place, I hope - he simply _cannot_ stand to the likes of our glorious, combined might!"

Their eyes met, and Theseus found himself unable to look away for the moment, frozen mid-bounce. His dear friend, dark shoulders crossed with bruises from the battle, yet his large eyes betrayed no pain. Only pride in their victory, and the admiration for a shield-mate, and...  
And what was that, something else?  
Asterius seemed unable to look away either, shoulders almost rumbling with the force of a leaving breath.

Asterius was the first to blink and look away, the spell breaking, but his words came smooth, unhesitant. "I would ask of you a boon, my king."  
"A boon, dear Asterius?" He snorted, a poor imitation of his friend's frequent action. "Anything in my power, it is yours, you know this!"  
"...I do. But I would still ask of this." Now Asterius would not look at him.  
"Then ask away, so I may say yes to whatever wonders you request!" Theseus waved his hand impatiently. What sort of thing could Asterius possibly want, that he didn't already have?  
"...I would ask of you not to get angry with me." A glance, their eyes meeting once more.  
Theseus' brow furrowed, and he laughed. "Angry? Why, my precious friend, I could _never_ be angry with you! You have proven that hellspawn cannot weave his dark words over your mind, why would I _ever_ -"

It was short, and forever, all at once. Theseus found his words interrupted by a pair of lips, pressed against his own with power restrained. His brain hardly had time to register it before it was over, Asterius straightening from where he had bent over. There was a look in his eyes that Theseus could not read, but in there a spark of something. Something he had not seen in Asterius' eyes in a very long time.  
Something he had seen much of in the Minotaur, in the Labyrinth.  
Fear.  
For once in his afterlife, Theseus was truly without words. His mouth closed, then opened, then closed again.  
Asterius looked away, resting his axe upon its holder once more. "That is why I asked such of you, my King. That I may have such, once, as a memory to hold." His voice was steady, but quiet, even for the bull-man.  
As a memory to....  
Once?  
Finally, Theseus' mouth began to work, before his brain. "You just kissed me."  
The corner of Asterius' mouth went taut a moment. "Indeed."  
"And you thought I would be angry?"  
A beat. Asterius shrugged, forcedly casual. "I would not risk it."

Coughing once, Theseus forced himself to take a step forward, closing the distance between them once again. "Well, I had not said I would grant that boon, as you so _rudely_ interrupted me!" He didn't notice the shiver that went up Asterius' spine, barreling onwards. "And I daresay I find myself tempted to _be_ angry at you, should you kiss me only once and have the thought to never do so again!"  
The words hung in the air. Asterius turned back fully, his large eyes fixed on Theseus.  
Theseus puffed his chest up further, and stepped up onto the side of the bench next to Asterius to be closer to his height. "Indeed," he said, pulling on his bravado to bring out words that made his chest tight to think, "I feel I _shall_ be cross with you, if you intend not to kiss me again! You, my dear Asterius, my closest companion in Elysium - to threaten such a thing!"

There was another moment, and just as Theseus began to feel he might have said the wrong thing, he felt Asterius' hand settle warm and heavy on his shoulder. He looked up into his companion's eyes, suddenly close.  
Full of the same look as before, without the spark of fear.  
"...if you would have of me such, my King..."  
And the deep rumble of Asterius' voice got to him. Theseus placed his hands on either side of his cheeks, and leaned in for a too-firm, too-intent kiss to his lips in return.  
He was met with only a moment of surprised hesitation, before it melted into something far more pleasant. The hand moved from his shoulder to his chin, a welcome support at this angle.  
This time, forever lasted a bit more before they parted, Theseus letting his eyes open once more. He smiled, and his heartbeat was strong enough to be felt in his teeth.

And the smile turned into a (dignified) squawk as he was suddenly hoisted off of his feet. Chuckling to himself, Asterius placed the king on his shoulder with ease, one hand braced against his side for balance.  
"Perhaps we should remove ourselves from the weapons, my King." His voice was warm and full, as always, and yet moreso.  
Theseus spluttered a moment, but pulled himself together, daring not to feel the heat in his cheeks. Champions did not get flustered. "A-a good idea, my friend - I would not want you fainting back into your axe from surprise!"  
Asterius' laugh, as he carried Theseus out of the armory, was warm and rich, like dark-gold honey.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, well, well, what have we here? Van once again hopping fandoms and trying a pair they've never written?  
> But truly, Asterius has won my heart - and apparently, Theseus has won his. I've had a few works for these two in the, well, works for a while now - first one to come out is this one. Still learning to write these two, so I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
